Toy mortar



(No Model.)

-B. NICHOLS.

TOY MORTAR. I

Patented AugQBO, 1892.

INVENTOH $2 ATTORNEYS WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES COPY PATENT OFFICE.

GRANT B. NICHOLS, OF W'APAKONETA, OHIO.

' TOY MORTAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 481,808, dated August 30, 1892.

Application filed December 2, 1891- Serial No. 413,762. (No model.)

To all whom it 171 003 concern: 1

Be it known that I, GRANT B. NICHOLS, o Wapakoneta, in the county of Auglaise and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Toy Mortar, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved toy mortar which is simple and durable in construction and arranged to conveniently and safely shoot a toy ball by the explosion of a fire-cracker, the direction of the ball being controlled by the operator manipulating for this purpose a toy gun or a stick.

The invention consists of a stick or toygun barrel and a mortar secured on the end of the stick or barrel and provided with a ball-seat, an explosion-chamber in the rear of the seat, and a fire-cracker opening leading to the explosion-chamber.

The invention also consists of certain parts and details and combinations of the same, as will be fully described hereinafter, and then pointed out in the claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure I is a side elevation of the improvement with parts in section, the mortar being arranged at the end of the barrel of a toy gun. Fig. 2 is a like View of the improvement with the mortar arranged on the end of a stick.

As shown in Fig. 1, the mortarA is secured on the end of the barrel B of a toy gun, and, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the mortar A is attached to the end of a stick 0. In both instances the connection is efiected by a mortise-and-tenon joint. The mortar A is more especially designed to shoot a flexible hollow ball made of rubber or other similar material. In order to use a ball of this description, the mortar A is formed with a bore D sufficiently large for convenient insertion of the ball E, which is adapted to be seated on a seat D, formed by a spherical oifset or rounded-0E shoulder at the inner end of the bore D.

In the rear of the seat D is arranged an explosion-chamber D concentric with the bore D, but considerably reduced in diameter.

Into this explosion-chamber D leads a firecracker opening F, in which is inserted a firecracker G, passin'g with its inner end into a recess D formed in the bottom of the explosion-chamber and serving to hold the firecracker in place. The fire-cracker extends with its fuse end to the outside of the mortar, as is plainly shown in the drawings. The fire-cracker explosion-chamber is comparatively small, and the central portion of the ball is in close contact with the cracker. Thus the force is all expended and concentrated upon the balls central portion, and the bore from the ball-seat (socket) to the muzzle being of larger diameter than the ball the friction of the swelled or expanded ball as it is suddenly struck or pushed upon by the exploded fire-cracker gases is almost entirely obviated or removed. Hence the ball by this peculiar construction of bore is shot a great distance. When any force presses upon the central portion of a soft hollow rubber ball, it swells or expands to an increased diameter. Hence although the ball falls in thebore easily of its own weight to the socket when the explosion takes place the balls diameter is increased to almost the diameter of the bore. Therefore we see the necessity of this peculiar shaped and constructed bore for shooting a soft hollow rubber ball. I prefer to make the bore either of hard wood or tin.

As shown in Fig. 2, the mortar Ais of a construction similar to that shown and described in the United States Letters Patent No. 455,184, dated J une 30, 1891, and granted to E. P. Eastwick and assigned to me.

It will be seen that when the ball E is in place in the mortar and a fire-cracker is inserted in the opening F and ignited then the explosion of the fire-cracker within the explosion-chamber forces the ball E 01f its seat and shoots the same a considerable distace.

It will be seen that the operator manipulating the toy gun or the stick 0 can direct the ball to any desired object or target, and at the same time the operator is not placed in a dangerous position owing to the explosion of the fire-cracker, as the mortar is at the end of the stick or barrel, as is plainly shown and described.

IOC

Having thus described my invention, I swell or shoulder in its bore, substantially as aim as new and desire to secure by Letters set forth.

atent 7 A toy gun having a fire-cracker mortar at GRANT AICHOLS' 1e muzzle end of its barrel and a mortise \Vitnesses:

1d tenon connecting the two, said mortar C. W. NICHOLS, wing a lateral fire-cracker opening and a R. C. NICHOLS. 

